Electronic messaging systems provide the opportunity for groups of users to exchange electronic messages. For example, a group of users can individually submit electronic messages to a group messaging thread, and the electronic messaging system organizes each submitted electronic message chronologically, such that the resulting thread includes electronic messages in the order that they were received. The group messaging thread participants can then read the included electronic messages by, for example, scrolling through the group messaging thread.
A problem arises, however, for a group messaging thread participant who becomes absent from the thread for a period of time. For example, if the participant has been absent from the thread for a period of time (e.g., the participant has been away from their mobile phone or internet access), an overwhelming number of electronic messages may have been submitted to the thread by the other group messaging thread participants. Thus, when the participant again accesses the group messaging thread, the participant is faced with an overwhelming number of electronic messages that he or she must read in order to “catch up” on the thread. This is generally an inconvenient and time-consuming process that can result in the participant becoming disengaged from the group messaging thread.
Group messaging thread participants typically do not spend the time required to catch up on large numbers of missed messages in a group messaging thread. Instead, a group messaging thread participant who has been absent from the thread generally continues on at the thread's current place when he or she next accesses the thread, without any knowledge of the current context of the conversation. Thus, conventional electronic messaging systems are problematic and unable to re-engage participants with a group messaging thread after a period of absence.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved messaging system that addresses the above disadvantages related to group messaging threads.